Terms and conditions

1. This website is operated by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (“NHS Institute”).

These Terms and Conditions govern your use of our website (http://www.institute.nhs.uk – ‘the Website’) and any NHS page or sites incorporated within the Website which contains any content posted by any user other than the NHS Institute (‘User Content Pages’) including but not limited to ‘NHS Live’ and the ‘PCT Portal’. References to the Website in these Terms and Conditions includes the User Content Pages. We may amend these Terms and Conditions from time to time, and the revised version will be effective when displayed here.

2. ‘User’ shall in the Terms and Conditions mean all persons who access and use the Website, including but not limited to members of the public and also NHS organisations and their staff and suppliers of services or consultancy services.

3. The NHS Institute cannot guarantee uninterrupted access to the Website or any linked websites. The NHS Institute accepts no responsibility for any claims, losses or damages (whether direct or indirect) arising from the unavailability of the Website or any part of it, or any linked website.

4. The Website contains links to other third party sites. The NHS Institute is not responsible for the content of any third party website.

5. The internet is not a secure medium for communication. The NHS Institute cannot guarantee that any information submitted to it through the Website or by email will arrive safely or be secure from interception by third parties.

6. If Users submit personal information to the NHS Institute through the Website to register an NHS Institute Profile, they confirm that they agree to these Terms and Conditions and consent to the NHS Institute maintaining, recording, holding and using their personal information in accordance with the Privacy Policy (see [LINK to Privacy Policy]). Please refer to the privacy policy for further details.

7. In registering for an NHS Institute profile, Users agree:
• to comply with these Terms and Conditions in their use of the Website;
• to ensure that any details supplied to the NHS Institute in order to register for such access are accurate and to advise promptly in the event that any such details change; and
• to keep confidential any personal login password provided by the NHS Institute and to be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from use of any such password by any third party.

8. The content of the this Website (including the User Content Pages) is provided on an ‘as is’ basis for information only and nothing contained within the Website shall be deemed to constitute any endorsement, quality assurance or recommendation in respect of any content on the Website. Content of the Website is subject to variation at any time without notice. The NHS Institute also does not endorse or otherwise recommend that any of the content of the Website is accurate or complete.

9. The products, publications, services and suppliers referred to on the Website and the User Content Pages (including but not limited to those displayed through the PCT Portal), are not endorsed by the NHS Institute, nor any other body such as the NHS confederation, the Department of Health or the Strategic Health Authorities. Where Users rely on any information or other material contained in the Website, they do so entirely at their own risk and they accept that all warranties, conditions and undertakings, express or implied, whether by common law, statute, trade usage, course of dealings or otherwise in respect of this website are excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

10. The NHS Institute will not be responsible for, and excludes all liability in respect of, any claims, losses or damages (whether direct or indirect) arising out of or relating to the use of and/or reliance on the contents of the Website and/or the User Content Pages of the Website, and/or any material or content on linked sites accessed through the Website, and, in particular, the NHS Institute will not be liable in defamation, for breach of confidentiality or for intellectual property infringement in respect of any user-generated content, except to the extent that such liability cannot be excluded by law.

11. Nothing in these terms of use shall exclude liability for fraudulent misrepresentation by the NHS Institute or its employees or for death or personal injury resulting from negligence on the part of the NHS Institute or its employees.

12. Users shall not reverse engineer, decompile, copy or adapt any software or other code or scripts that form part of the Website nor attempt to transmit to or via the Website any information that contains a virus, worm, trojan, or other harmful or disruptive component.

13. Users may create hypertext links to the Website [but not to any User Content Pages], provided that the link is not used in any misleading or defamatory context, nor otherwise associated with any unlawful activity.

15. The NHS Institute retains all of its other rights in the material displayed on the Website, except for material posted by Users. Except as expressly authorised by the NHS Institute, Users may not copy, modify, publish, transmit, distribute, perform, display or sell any of the NHS Institute’s proprietary material. The NHS Institute name/logo are trade marks owned by the NHS Institute.

User Content Pages

16. Following the creation of an NHS Institute profile, Users may have the right to post material on the Website. Users shall only post material which they have personally created unless specific consent has been obtained from the original creator of the material. Where a User wishes to post material they have themselves personally created in the course of employment, permission to do so must be obtained from the relevant employer. Posting of any document which includes trade marks, logos, designs or databases, or any photographs, images or drawings in which third party copyright may subsist, or anything else in respect of which a third party may claim ownership, is prohibited, unless specific consent for use has been obtained from the owning third party. Users warrant that no copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property right is infringed by the posting of any material by them, and by agreeing to these Terms and Conditions Users warrant that all necessary consents have been obtained in relation to the publication of all material.

17. Subject to clause 18, Users shall not post any personal data of any person on the Website. In this context ‘personal data’ means any data relating to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Inclusion of any sensitive personal data relating to any other person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health or condition, sexual life, or commission or proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings is strictly prohibited.

18. In cases where Users wish to include the contact details of any individual at an NHS organisation or any other third party in the material that they post on the Website, they shall ensure that they seek appropriate consent and authorisation to include such details prior to the submitting of the information for publication on the User Content Pages of the Website. The NHS Institute shall assume that consent or authorisation has been obtained in respect of any such details provided by a User, and that such contact has agreed to being contacted by third parties accessing the Website.

19. Any User submitting their own details to be posted on the Website, agrees to their details being shared with any other Users including any Users accessing the Website, and/or only such Users entitled to post content on the User Content Pages, as appropriate. Users from organisations other than an NHS organisation who post details about their services confirm their agreement to comments being posted about their services on the Website by other Users.

20. Posting of any material containing any confidential information of any third party by Users on the Website is prohibited. Confidential information includes any information which has been designated as confidential or which is by its nature confidential. The NHS Institute accepts no liability for the posting of any such confidential information or material by any User.

21. Users warrant that material posted by them is not false, offensive, defamatory, threatening, obscene or unlawful. Posting of any such material, or any inaccurate or misleading material on the Website is prohibited. Users should be aware that the NHS Institute may be required to disclose to third parties personal details of any User who has posted material containing a defamatory or otherwise unlawful statement.

22. Users acknowledge that in posting any content on the Website, they warrant that they have the right to do so and grant the NHS Institute a royalty-free, non-exclusive right to reproduce, adapt and/or publish any content solely for the purpose of displaying the content on the Website.

23. Users shall not use the Website for any unlawful purpose, or post or submit content to the Website which is in breach of these Terms and Conditions or which is otherwise unlawful.

24. The NHS Institute does not claim any ownership or control over any content submitted by Users on the Website and nor does it screen, control, edit or conduct regular monitoring of the User Content Pages or any other user generated material posted on the Website. The NHS Institute reserves the right to remove any information or material posted by Users at any time, without notice or liability, if at any time the NHS Institute becomes or is made aware that such material constitutes a breach by a User of these Terms and Conditions, is otherwise unlawful or the NHS Institute deems its removal necessary for any other reason. If the NHS Institute considers that a User is using the Website and/or User Content Pages in a manner detrimental to the sites or other users, for an unlawful purpose, or in a manner which it otherwise deems to be unlawful and/or contrary to the Terms and Conditions, the NHS Institute reserves the right to terminate their right to post on the Website and to access the User Content Pages.

25. Users should be aware that the NHS Institute is under an obligation under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to requests from third party individuals or entities for information which it holds, and therefore may be obliged to make disclosures of any material posted on User Content Pages (whether accessible to the public or not).

26. The operation of the Website or any User Content Page on the Website is not intended to replace in any circumstances any obligation of any User, NHS body or entity relating to the procurement of products or services under procurement regulations and legislation applicable in England and Wales and no information or content on the Website should be construed as forming any part of any procurement procedure or process, and nor should it be used by any User or other third party for that purpose.

27. Users acknowledge that all documents and information, including details relating to any projects and contact details, posted on the Website will be publically available (except in cases where the User posts to a specific page on the User Content Pages, in relation to which access is limited to the other Users with rights to access the page in question, (a “Group”)). Any references in these Terms and Conditions to Website and/or User Content Pages shall include Groups. It is the responsibility of each User to keep all material posted by it on the Website, including but not limited to documents, details of projects and contact details, up to date.

Access and Groups

28. Access to some of the content of the Website and User Content Pages is restricted to persons who have an NHS Institute profile and/or are employed by an NHS body. In addition, access to some content of a Group is restricted to certain Users who are members of that Group.

29. At the request of a User, the NHS Institute may set up a Group, and invite certain other Users to become members of the Group. Membership of a Group by any User is at the discretion of the NHS Institute, and the NHS Institute may invite other Users to join a Group, or terminate the existing membership of any User of any Group at any time. The NHS Institute reserves the right to appoint a User to manage any Group on its behalf at any time. The NHS Institute does not screen, control, edit or conduct regular monitoring of the content posted by Users who are members of a Group and these Terms and Conditions shall apply to all content posted within a Group.

30. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and Users agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in respect of any disputes which may arise in relation to the Website (including any User Content Pages).